My Friend Thomas in Sri Lanka

Sunday evening and into Monday morning, prior to leaving on an out-of-town-trip, I followed the S. Asian earthquake/tsunami stories as I have friends, clients and colleagues in the region. Just before I left Monday morning, this one came through, allowing a small breath in a sea of sorrow. And the Various Journeys Continue . . .:

"The seaside of Mutur town is obliterated, but most of the town itself along with the NP House/Office is unscathed. Most families, I've spoken to, however, have suffered some loss. Our landlord lost a daughter, an aunt and several other relations who were traveling on a train to Galle for a wedding. Another friend I spoke with tonight lost his parents and twelve other extended members of his family. The loss at times seems overwhelming; yet we find a way not only to survive, but to thrive. The outpouring of members of the community to each other, which crosses ethnic and religious lines is wonderfully inspiring, even inspiriting, as I just mis-keyboarded. Relief supplies and volunteer assistance are literally pouring in with much more positive force than the destructive impact of the Tusamni. The big wave did it's destructive work in less than a minute; the reconstructive work, rebuilding the devastated community, will last lifetimes, as people find in tragedy new ways of learning to live and work cooperatively together. At least that is my belief as to what positively can come from this horrible event."

After I came back and read/watched more, I felt numb. I can't even imagine this.

10 Reasons Nonprofits Should Use RSS

Marnie Webb posted this great piece, 10 Reasons Nonprofits Should Use RSS. Read the whole article for the juicy details.

The argument we frequently find ourselves using is that none of that explains the reasons nonprofits should do it. Frankly, nonprofits should use RSS for the same reasons everyone else should. But here goes -- 10 reasons translated into nonprofit-speak.

1. It's a ridiculously easy way to read the web...
2. It's ridiculously easy to discover relevant information...
3. It's ridiculously easy to share the information you get...
4. It's ridiculously easy to participate in conversations...
5. It's ridiculously easy to control your own subscriptions...
6. It's ridiculously easy to allow people to trade your good content like it's a baseball card...
7. It's ridiculously easy for other people to lend you a bit of their web real estate...
8. It's ridiculously easy to avoid being a spammer...
9. It's ridiculously easy to contribute to web-wide conversations...
10. It's only just beginning...

Give... Tsunami relief...

Indian Ocean Earthquake (Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India):

"On December 26th, a series of earthquakes occurred in the area of the western coast of Northern Sumatra, Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands. The two strongest earthquakes had the magnitude of 8.9 and 7.3. The earthquakes caused tsunamis impacting nine countries in the region leaving more than 100,000 dead and a further 1M forced from their homes. Over 10 countries are affected as far away as Somalia and Kenya with Aceh province in Indonesia and Sri Lanka said to be worst hit.

In response Architecture for Humanity and Worldchanging.com launched a reconstruction Appeal. We set an intial target for rebuilding of $15,000 (enough to build a dozen homes, 2 schools or one mobile medical clinic). As of 7pm on December 29th we have reached $12,900 from 180 donors."

As of today, they are over $25K.